Cadia
Cadia was a terrestrial Fortress World on the edge of the nebula known as the Eye of Terror. Cadia's dangerous proximity to the Eye of Terror has made it necessary for the people of Cadia to fortify the planet. It is Cadia that is the first target of Abaddon the Despoiler's assaults and Black Crusades, launched from the Eye of Terror. Location Cadia has a special and honoured place in the history of Mankind. Cadia stands upon the edge of the Eye of Terror within a narrow corridor of stable space called the Cadian Gate. This forms the one and only predictable passage between the Chaos infested daemon worlds of the Eye of Terror and Terra. No battle fleet of any size can rely upon other unstable passages and must pass through the Cadian Gate. Cadia is therefore one of the most strategically important planets of the The Cadian Pylons Perhaps the most unusual and significant feature of Cadia were the mysterious Pylons, structures of unknown origin that predated the planet's colonization by man. Five thousand, eight hundred and ten intact Pylons were spread out across the surface of Cadia, with a further two thousand either buried or in various states of disrepair. No two were identical in design, but each one rose to precisely half a kilometer in height and extended a quarter-kilometer into the ground. Each Pylon also featured slim, winding tunnels machined into them, each one no wider than a man's head and exactly two hundred and fifty meters long. Efforts by the Adeptus Mechanicus to study the Pylons had failed miserably, as their surfaces were totally impenetrable to scanning by auspex and efforts to map the tunnels via Servitors had resulted in missing probes. However, it is widely believed that they were the reason for the existence of the Cadian Gate in the first place. During the 13th Black Crusade, as the warp storm Baphomael expanded to engulf the edges of the Cadian System, the Pylons simultaneously began resonating with an almost imperceptible vibration, and microscopic fractures began appearing on their surface. It was discovered that they were resonating at an amplitude similar to that produced by a Gellar Field in their effort to fight back against the encroaching storm. Access to the Pylons was generally forbidden, with it being deemed a rare privilege to be granted permission to visit if one were not of sufficient military rank. During the final stages of the Thirteenth Black Crusade, the Magos Belisarius Cawl worked with the Necron Lord Trazyn to fully activate the Pylons and push the Eye of Terror back. However, in the end, Abaddon collided the debris of the Blackstone Fortress Will of Eternity into Cadia's surface, destabilizing the Pylons as they were fully awakening. In a catastrophic chain reaction, the Pylons were destroyed, which caused Cadia to be dragged into the Warp. History Before Imperial colonization, Cadia was the home of a lost fragment of humanity that worshipped the four Gods of Chaos. This society was encountered by the Word BearersLegion forty years before the Horus Heresy, and the prevalence of violet eyes amongst the populace was seen as a mark of mutation caused by the Eye of Terror, which also appears violet. It was on Cadia that the Word Bearers' Primarch, Lorgar, first met Ingethel the Chosen and became inducted into the service of the Foul Powers. This civilization was eventually wiped out by Cyclonic torpedoes. Cadia was resettled sometime in the early 32nd millennium as a direct result of the 1st Black Crusade. The early defenses of Cadia, however, proved to be woefully ill-prepared, its major cities indefensible as they were built in the traditional High Terra style of broad, ordered avenues. Following the 2nd Black Crusade, changes were made to improve the planet's fortifications, rebuilding the cities into their present form. Geography Cadia's natural environment is similar to that of pre-Hive World Terra, with a large ocean covering 70 percent of the planet. The land mass that does exist is divided between incredibly thick pine forests and vast glaciers. The planet is slightly cooler than most but not to the point that it adversely effects growing conditions. Military Cadian Shock Troops Cadia's planetary defence forces are known as the Interior Guard. It is from this guard that the Imperium draws the famed Cadian Shock Troopers regiments, widely regarded as the best soldiers in the Imperium short of the superhuman Space Marines. Their leader is the indomitable Ursarkar E. Creed, the saviour of Cadia and hero of the Battle for Cadia. Strategic Value Since Cadia is the capital of a sector raided by, and the Imperium's bastion against, the Chaos forces who raid directly from the Eye, it is one of the most militarized and fortified of Imperial planets. Massive Kasrs dot the landscape. All citizens of the planet must serve at least a four year term in the military, and the amount of military presence has lead to the population becoming focused on weapons production. 71.75% of the population is under arms. On several occasions the forces of Chaos have moved against Cadia and raging battles have been fought in the depths of space. Such huge battles are rare, but the constant intrusion of Chaos raiding craft is commonplace. Chaos Space Marines make frequent forays onto the surface of Cadia and must be hunted down. The bulk of the Cadian army is made up of the Shocktroops, with the remainder made up of the Whiteshields (conscript soldiers recruited at the age of 14 and trained to take place in Shocktroop regiments) and the elite Kasrkin soldiers. Notable regiments: *7th Cadian "The Lucky Sevens" *8th Cadian "The Lord Castellan's Own", led personally by Ursarkar E. Creed during the Thirteenth Black Crusade *39th Cadian "Xenobane" *88th Cadian Mechanized *110th Cadian "Shadow Corps" *122nd Cadian Distinguished themselves in the Vogen Campaign *412th Cadian *417th Cadian "Hellbringers" Society Cadia was settled sometime in the early 32nd millennium by humans, who quickly became the dominant species. The Cadian people are naturally tall, fair-skinned, with blonde hair and blue or purple eyes. Cadian society is more martial than civilian, mostly due to the disproportionate ratio of soldiers to citizens in its population. The birth rate and the recruitment rate for the Cadian Imperial Guard is synonymous. Most Cadian children learn to field-strip a lasgun by the age of ten years, and many young Cadians serve in youth armies as Whiteshield. Cadian society is so martial, in fact, that camouflage patterns have made their way into everyday fashion and armoured tiles on the roofs of even the wealthy and successful. It is very easy to determine who is an outsider or local on Cadia by simply clothing. Reading of the Names Being an embattled world, Cadia suffers constant casualties in the defence of Cadia and the Imperium. Cemetery space on the planet is at a premium so the local priests routinely check the tombstones of the honoured dead for legibility. When a section of the cemetery is deemed illegible those graves are exhumed and the bones are added to a communal pit. The theory is that once the names are illegible, the honours are forgotten. Cities After the first Chaos invasion, soon after the planet was settled, Cadian cities changed from a plan of broad avenues to one where the streets of its cities arranged in zig-zag patterns meant to make any intruding enemies fight for every block. At the heart of each Cadian city is a fortress called a Kasr in the local dialect. The largest Kasr in 241.M41 was Kasr Derth. Economy A.lthough heavily militarized, Cadia is largely self-sufficient, and exports huge amounts of weapons to its neighbouring planets, while importing very little. Many other worlds use Cadian materials to equip their own regiments, including the Brimlock Dragoons. Cadia's earliest Kasrs had been built in the High Terra Style, with the wide streets laid out on a grid system. In early M.32, a Chaos invasion had wretchedly short work of all the kasrs.The broad, ordered avenues had proved impossible to hold or defend.Since then the Kasrs have been built in elaborate geometric patterns, the streets jinking back and forth like the teeth of a key. From the air, Kasr Derth looked like an intricate angular puzzle. Given the Cadians' mettle and their skills at urban-war, a kasr could be held street by street, meter by meter, for months if not years. Destruction During the Thirteenth Black Crusade, Cadia was subjected to the largest Chaos invasion since the Horus Heresy. A surprise opening attack by the Volscani Cataphractswiped out the Cadian High Command, forcing Ursarkar E. Creed to become its sole Castellan. After vicious fighting, only one fortress, Kasr Kraf, remained. However, the tide of the battle nearly turned thanks to the intervention of Eldar and Trazyn, who sought to reactivate the Pylons on the world and turn back the Warp. In the final battle beneath the surface of Cadia, Abaddon was forced to retreat as the Pylons were activating, but redirected debris from the Blackstone Fortress Will of Eternity into the planet. Cadia was shattered and, as the Pylons faltered, the planet was swallowed into the Warp. Castellan Creed and his Cadian 8th stayed behind to cover the evacuation and their fate remains ambiguous. Only a handful of its citizens were able to escape in an evacuation fleet led by the Phalanx. Of its population, fewer than three million survived. Although Cadia was ultimately reduced to a burning wasteland by Abaddon's assault, the worlds in the wider Cadian System fought hard to destroy the spearhead the Despoiler had plunged into their midst. The Great Exodus of Cadia had seen swathes of the Imperial defence redeployed to the sister worlds. Sometime after the Great Rift's creation, the Adeptus Custodes Captain General Trajann Valoris ordered a small, fast-moving force of Custodians to travel to Cadia's remains. Details of their mission are suppressed, even amongst their comrades, but they are accompanied by a number of warriors drawn from the ranks of the Shadowkeepers. Category:Obscurus Places